I hear this word alot, but no one is really saying anything tangible about it. So what do i think decolonization means?
A big topic, millions of tax bucks spent, bunch of people hired, hours of meeting discussed, yet I hardly see any this interesting done about it except for show.
So I know this word is fueled for some people and they see it a certain way, and i get it. We all know of horrible stories from the past. The word colony simply means a group of organism (like cells, animals, humans, etc…) living and growing together. So setting up a colony for human includes things like electricity, sewers, streets, schools, malls etc… Sadly it also included religion & forcefull means.
Although I think our big cities worldwide negatively affect the planet and society, I believe smaller cities with more space for everyone to exist would be beneficial but thats another topics.
So when we hear colonization we think instantly that its completely bad, that is called a crusade. colonization did have some intent to establish what i just explained above. So when I hear people say decolonize, I hope they don’t mean lets go back to living in huts and barely surviving where the average age of death was around the 40s.
We are living longer and better then ever, the middle class is growing worldwide and we are having less wars, all races have equal opportunities(well in canada we mostly do as anyone can go anywhere and be anything they want as citizens) sure we have room for improvement. Let’s build from the past, ya!
As I write this on a rainy day at the national gallery of canada, where I worked for several years, we had this one painting of haudenosaunee people boiling priest to eat them, and on each side of the painting are catholic figures looking saintly, a priest and a nun. Our national art gallery funded by public money had a decolonization department of many people with about a yearly salary of half a million bucks. I wrote to the department a few times about this installation, as its clearly perpetuates the concept of native people being savage and religion being holy.
I recall giving a tour to Autumn Pelletier, a young strong indigenous activist, her heart seemed to drop seeing this. Imagine all tourist to Canada see this, its an appalling story to tell in the second room of the gallery!
I call this propaganda art as it served as reasoning for Europeans to do things to natives, as tv didn’t exist back then. Basically soldiers would believe this then do awful shit.
Some say im to forward thinking and i need to let people catch up. How many generations are we going to wait, narratives in society need to evolve, now!
So i mentioned it to the decolorization department, in a few emails, I spoke to my education department and got no response, not even an opinion. Its surprising to see a federal institution with huge funding cant even address this little concern. So I decided to dig deeper, apparently there was a priest who had been tortured at the hands of natives, says colonizer documents. I read the documents, it clear how much its been embellished, saying the native tortured the priest to the point it seem fictitious, sort of like out of a Indian jones movie. The tone of saintliness of the priest, and that Jesus is the savior is found everywhere. Well if its all true, which is doubtful, we don’t really know.
I have little faith in decolonization departments if they cant even improve the narratives shared with Canadians. Art is so powerful, influential and necessary.
Now to say the church was saintly is clearly not factional, and we have know that for decades and have proof. The atrocities the church has brought to native people is appalling to say the least. Priest would come dress in black cloaks and often times bringing disease like small pox. Its clear to see the fear of sorcery from native tribes. Why is that story not presented in the gallery?
Someone told me maybe the gallery should put up a card next to these arts piece explaining the other side of history, no. Their should be art work of equal value next to it if you plan to keep it up. Or id say take it down, its not erasing history, its moving past it, just like when u get a divorce you change back you last name. We can’t forget the past, but we must build the future. No more trauma loops, no more constant triggering, no more mediocre one sided stances.
So i know its easy to point the finger, so here are some decolonizatin ideas
Fund native languages revival, for all canadians!
Hire natives from the region you are on, not just any native person. Ex. If you on mohawk territory, hire mohawks as advisors, not metis or people from accross the country.
Remove any presence of the queen in the institution, especially on legal documents.
Remove religious holidays and any relating to britain, allow people to take the statutory holidays they wish
Return the calendar to a 13 moons one
Encourage everyone to say where they are from, family heritage, not just natives.
Offer native culture classes, not just cultural sensitivity ones
Stop victimizing yourself all the time in emails, or publicly. Empower the institutions & realize your priviledges
Think of the future more than the past
Some treaties are out dated and just poorly written
If you have some more to add, please send me your ideas to build a strong list…maybe ne day we will never have to use this word again